Major performance groups

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Innovative music director Robert Spano conducts one of America's top classical music ensembles, winner of 18 Grammy Awards. Performs weekly September through June at the Woodruff Arts Center's Symphony Hall; summer pops concerts at Chastain Park. 404-733-4800, www.atlantasymphony.org

The Atlanta Opera. A popular regional opera company, the group performs classic works from Mozart to Puccini. Beginning in fall 2003, the company will relocate from the Fox Theatre to the Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center. 404-881-8801, www.atlantaopera.org

Atlanta Ballet. The city's premier dance company is led by John McFall, who has enlivened the ensemble with a mix of traditional and vigorous contemporary choreography. 1400 W. Peachtree St., Atlanta. 404-873-5811, www.atlantaballet.com

Theaters/troupes

Actor's Express.Non-Equity troupe with an edgy attack on new and classic plays is housed in a 120-seat black-box space at King Plow Arts Center (a 1902 plow factory with a hip redo). 887 W. Marietta St. N.W., Atlanta. 404-607-7469, www.actorsexpress.com

Agatha's -- A Taste of Mystery. Non-Equity troupe performs original mystery/farces amid the tables of a cozy Midtown restaurant. 693 Peachtree St. N.E., Atlanta. 404-875-1610, www.agathas.com

Alliance Theatre. One of the nation's largest regional theater complexes, founded in 1968, presenting new and classic plays, musicals and children's works on a 750-seat proscenium-thrust stage and in a 200-seat black-box studio. 1280 Peachtree St. N.E., Atlanta. 404-733-5000, www.alliancetheatre.org

ART Station Theatre. An Equity troupe producing new plays and musicals by Southern writers on the intimate 80-seat thrust stage of a converted 1900s building. 5384 Manor Drive, Stone Mountain. 770-469-1105, www.artstation.org

Aurora Theatre. A non-Equity professional troupe that presents a variety of plays and musicals on an intimate thrust stage in a converted hardware store in the historic track-side section of Duluth. 3087-B Main St., Duluth. 770-476-7926, www.auroratheatre.com

Canton Theatre. Restored theater in downtown Canton featuring plays and musicals. 171 E. Main St., Canton. 770-704-0755.

Center for Puppetry Arts. Founded in 1978, it's a leading national puppetry complex in a converted school, with three stages, a museum and play series for children and adults. 1404 Spring St. N.W., Atlanta. 404-873-3391, www.puppet.org

Cobb Playhouse and Studio.Two theater spaces in a shopping center are home to five community troupes that specialize in children's, teens' and family entertainment. 2060 Lower Roswell Road, Marietta. 770-565-3995, www.littlegeneralplayhouse.com

Dad's Garage Theatre Company.Underground comedy is king in the relaxed, funky 100-seat warehouse space of this non-Equity troupe. 280 Elizabeth St. N.E., Atlanta. 404-523-3141, www.dadsgarage.com

Georgia Ensemble Theatre. Popular plays and musicals, often with a Southern accent, form the repertoire of this Equity-member troupe on the appealing 600-seat proscenium stage of the Roswell Cultural Arts Center. 950 Forrest St., Roswell. 770-641-1260, www.get.org

Georgia Shakespeare Festival. Shakespeare and other classics are the specialty of Oglethorpe University's resident ensemble, a professional repertory company that plays on the 500-seat proscenium-thrust stage of the Conant Performing Arts Center. 4484 Peachtree Road N.E., Atlanta. 404-264-0020, www.gashakespeare.org

Horizon Theatre. Home of an Equity theater group, Horizon Theatre Company, specializing in Southeastern premieres of sophisticated off-Broadway plays and musicals on an intimate 150-seat thrust stage in a converted school (the Little Five Points Community Center). 1083 Austin Ave. N.E., Atlanta. 404-584-7450, www.horizontheatre.com

Jewish Theatre of the South. A non-Equity troupe that mounts plays and musicals with Jewish connections in the 253-seat theater of the Marcus Jewish Community Center. 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody. 770-395-2654, www.atlantajcc.org/artent.htm

Neighborhood Playhouse. A community troupe founded in 1980 that performs on a 170-seat proscenium stage in a converted school, specializing in crowd-pleasing plays and musicals. 430 W. Trinity Place, Decatur. 404-373-5311, www.nplayhouse.org

New American Shakespeare Tavern. Works by Shakespeare and other classic dramatists are mounted on a raised 250-seat thrust stage by an Equity troupe, the Atlanta Shakespeare Company. Table seating, wine, beer and pub-style food lend tavern ambience. 499 Peachtree St. N.E., Atlanta. 404-874-5299, www.shakespearetavern.com

Onstage Atlanta. One of Atlanta's oldest presenters of a mix of sophisticated and popular plays and musicals. This community troupe, founded in 1971, has been making its home on the smaller black-box stages of the 14th Street Playhouse for the past few years, but recently moved into its own space in Decatur's Suburban Plaza. Also home to Abracadabra Children's Theatre. 2597 N. Decatur Road, Decatur. 404-897-1802, www.onstageatlanta.com

Peachtree Playhouse. A non-Equity troupe that does original plays in a 121-seat black-box theater. 878 Peachtree St. N.E., Atlanta. 404-875-1193, www.peachtreeplayhouse.com

PushPush Theater. An actor-centered non-Equity ensemble that explores new and classic plays in a flexible black-box space at the refurbished Floataway complex. 1123 Zonolite Road N.E., Atlanta. 404-892-7876, www.pushpushtheater.com

7 Stages. An Equity troupe founded in 1978 that mounts new and classic plays with edgy, provocative issues. It has two stages -- a 200-seat high-ceiling thrust and a 50-seat black box -- in a comfortably refurbished 1940s movie house. 1105 Euclid Ave. N.E., Atlanta. 404-523-7647, www.7stages.org

Southside Theatre Guild. A community troupe that does five shows a season in an old movie house that's been turned into a 200-seat proscenium theater. 20 W. Campbellton St., Fairburn. 770-969-0956, www.stgplays.com

Stage Door Players:A community troupe housed in the North DeKalb Cultural Center (a converted 1960s school) that stages popular plays and musicals in a 145-seat space with a thrust stage. 5339 Chamblee Dunwoody Road, Dunwoody. 770-396-1726, www.mindspring.com/~stagedoorplayers

Synchronicity Performance Group. A non-Equity troupe that explores women's and other contemporary issues through new and classic plays in a variety of intimate spaces. 404-325-5168, www.synchrotheatre.com

Theatre Gael. A non-Equity troupe that presents plays and musicals of Celtic heritage, classic and new, on the black-box stages of the 14th Street Playhouse. 173 14th St. N.E., Atlanta. 404-876-9762, www.theatregael.com

Theatre in the Square.Classics, Broadway hits and Southern works are the specialty of this Equity troupe, which was founded in 1982 and performs on a 200-seat proscenium stage in a converted trolley garage from the early 1900s. 11 Whitlock Ave., Marietta. 770-422-8369, www.theatreinthesquare.com

Theatrical Outfit. Performing on the proscenium stage of the beautiful 900-seat Rialto Center for the Performing Arts, the Equity-member Outfit (founded 1976) performs plays and dramatizations of novels, often with a Southern or spiritual theme. 80 Forsyth St. N.W., Atlanta. 404-577-5257, www.theatricaloutfit.org